Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask becomes focus of Game 2 against Canadiens

A day after Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask blamed himself for Thursday night's double-overtime loss to the Canadiens, his teammates all supported him. The B's don't doubt that Rask will have a big game in Game 2 on Saturday.

They don’t think they’re in grave danger right now, but the Bruins know they’ll approach that status if they lose Game 2 of their second-round series against the Canadiens on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden (12:30, NBC/Ch. 7, WBZ-FM/98.5). Even if they did overtake the Habs after falling behind 0-2 in 2011, and even though they won’t quit if they’re down 0-2 by the time this best-of-7 moves to Montreal’s Bell Centre, the B’s really don’t want to have to face that situation.

“We realize how big of a game it is,” winger Brad Marchand said after Friday’s optional practice at Ristuccia Arena. “And we’ve got a lot of great leaders in this room that’ll make sure we’re all prepared.”

Rask blasted himself after Thursday night’s 4-3, double-overtime loss in Game 1 – unnecessarily so, in the eyes of his teammates. Some of the Vezina Trophy finalist’s self-critique isn’t printable, but what can be repeated is that “from a goalie’s standpoint, (Montreal’s Carey) Price played a lot better than I did,” that “I don’t think we deserved to be down 2-0, but part of that is my fault,” and finally, that P.K. Subban’s game-winning goal was “just a typical overtime goal. Somebody’s mistake, right? It was mine.”

“No, not at all,” said defenseman Kevan Miller. “(Rask) is always hard on himself, whether it’s a win or a loss. He’s always critiquing whether he’s playing well or not.

“I think he played great. We’ve got to do a little bit better job in front of him.”

“I don’t think we did the job in front of him as best we could, either,” Marchand added. “Tuukka made a lot of really, really big saves at some key times in the game.

“But that’s just how he is. He’s a competitor; he’s hard on himself. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be as good a goalie as he is.”

Page 2 of 2 - Rask was certainly not alone in this on Thursday, but he didn’t say a word about anyone’s game except his own – and mistakes gave the Canadiens many of their best chances. A neutral zone turnover (poor passing between Boychuk and Torey Krug) led to a 3-on-1 goal for Rene Bourque, and Subban’s two goals – both blistered through screens – came while defenseman Matt Bartkowski was serving penalties.

But Rask, who in the past has both pointed out flaws in his teammates’ overall game, and also defended his own, uttered only one name besides his own on Thursday night – that of Price, whom he believed he should have defeated.

“He’s a great goalie,” Rask said. “You’ve got to work hard to get those goals, and we got three. Should be enough to win.”

Rask was by no means perfect in Game 1. Bourque’s shot went between his legs, for one, and he may have been a bit deep in his crease on Francis Bouillon’s tie-breaking goal in the third period.

Still, Rask’s performance was hardly the only thing that kept the B’s from opening with a win. He may just have wanted people to think that, so that teammates who also could have been better in Game 1 might escape notice.

We’ll find out a little more about this in Game 2. Rask has intentionally shifted the focus to himself and therefore away from others. His teammates all went to bat for him on Friday and want to help him have a great game on Saturday.

“He’s been battling the whole year. He’s been great for us,” Krejci said. “He knows what we feel about him, what we think about him – that he’s a good goalie.”

“Tuukka’s a world-class goaltender,” Lucic said. “I know he’s going to do whatever he can to come back and have a big performance tomorrow.

Mike Loftus may be reached at mloftus@ledger.com. On Twitter.com: @MLoftus_Ledger.